Where two fight the third one wins?
by watram
Summary: The boyfriend, the desperate boyfriend wannabe and the friend. Rory dealing with Dean, Tristan and Jess at the same time. No longer a OneShot. R&R please.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Just something I wrote up quickly. My first published story so please be reasonably gentle if you even read idea was that either Jess came to town earlier or Tristan stayed longer, anyway, they just were around at the same time.  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Even though I do have all seven Gilmore Girls box sets on my shelf. **

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Rory was walking fast across the town square, trying to ignore the voices of those two idiots who were following her. She was done being the ever-sweet Rory. In fact, she was beyond furious. Even though she was convinced she loved Dean and in moments of painful honesty with herself she admitted she had a thing for Tristan, now they were just behaving as if they were five and making a scene in the middle of the town. She was pretty sure that Kirk was hiding somewhere in the bushes with his camera and a picture of her and her two admirers will make the cover of the Stars Hollow Gazette the next day. She just prayed that no one heard Tristan insisting that it was about time she chose one of them and ended her Mary ways.

"Mary, you can't ignore me forever!"

"Rory, talk to me!"

Suddenly she stopped and turned around on her heel, making her two followers bump into each other. That was actually pretty hilarious. But she couldn't start laughing now, she had to stay angry and tell them what she thought of their childishness.

"Firstly, Dean, since when do you actually follow me when you get jealous, isn't your favourite option to walk out and wait for me to come and apologise to you?" she hissed.

"Oooh, low blow Mary, look, you broke your boy here," Tristan pointed out sarcastically, clearly enjoying the fact that Rory was mad at Dean.

"And you!" she turned to him, "no one asked for your input, Tristan! Why are you even here in the first place?! I can recall a conversation from yesterday when I told you to stop talking to me!"

"Wait, you talked to him yesterday?" Dean cut in and then a look of realisation crossed his face. "It was when you told me you've got to go to Hartford to see Paris, right? You went to see him?!"

Rory wanted to shout something back at him but Tristan was faster.

"Oh no, she never told me she was with you," he teased, "I wouldn't have asked her to meet me if I knew."

She couldn't take it anymore and she left them to their stupid argument. She stormed into Luke's and headed straight towards the counter.

"Jess, can I have a doughnut, please?" she said and turned around at the sound of the bell at the door. Those two caught up with her again. "Actually, do you mind if I go upstairs?" she nodded towards the curtain.

"Sure," Jess raised his eyebrows and glanced at the two guys who just entered and were arguing loudly.

"Just... don't talk to them, don't let them follow me and please make sure they don't kill each other," she grabbed her doughnut and disappeared behind the curtain.

She walked up the stairs and into Luke's apartment. It was neater than the last time she was there, Jess had finally managed to unpack and now an entire wall was covered in shelves with his books and CD's. She walked up to them and examined the contents closely, finally picked out a big volume, put on some music and sat on a bed, her thoughts drifting away from the boys and instead focusing on the words in front of her. She reached for her doughnut with chocolate sprinkles and finally relaxed.

* * *

Meanwhile, downstairs, Jess was smirking while watching a very entertaining show. Dean, and some other guy he didn't know kept arguing and then stopping abruptly just to stare into space in uncomfortable silence. They have repeated the process at least five times already, he couldn't really keep up because things were crazy at the diner. From what Jess overheard, the blonde guy seemed pretty cool, especially since he was making Dean miserable, but he was clearly interested in Rory so Jess couldn't possibly like him. He let Luke take their order but then his curiosity got the better of him and he walked to their table with a coffee refill. Dean snorted when he saw him.

"Hey, I can go away, just thought you two might want some more coffee," Jess said, raising his hands in mock defence.

"Thanks, Jess," Dean pronounced his name spitefully.

"Sure. And, you know, for an extra twenty cents I can make you cappuccinos with cocoa hearts to make your date even more enjoyable," he teased mercilessly, enjoying every moment of it.

"And who are you exactly?" Tristan addressed him.

"Call me Dodger," he smirked.

"You can go in there, right?" Tristan pointed at the curtain and when Jess answered him with a nod, he took out a pen and scribbled something quickly on a piece of paper, then folded it and reached out to Jess. "Be so kind and deliver it to the princess up there, okay?"

Jess didn't need to be asked twice. He put the piece of paper in his pocket and turned around, just to hear Dean's voice attacking Tristan.

"I can't believe you, you intentionally sent him to Rory!"

Jess smirked, filled a cup of coffee, a box of fries and put two pieces of cherry pie on a plate and with all this headed upstairs. He opened the door with a kick since his hands were full.

"Hey, it's been almost two hours, I thought you must be..." he paused and frowned to hide the fact that his heart fluttered, "...hungry by now". It was silly. Jess Mariano's heart shouldn't flutter just because a Rory Gilmore was lying on his bed propping herself up on her elbow, reading his copy of _Jane Eyre_ and listening to his Sex Pistols record. Nice mix by the way. It was embarrassing that he even owned _Jane Eyre_ but his notes in the margins were even more incriminating. Busted. But he tried to play it cool.

"Bless you. As much as I love my fortress here, there's only healthy food in the fridge," she smiled at him and reached for a fry, sitting up cross-legged now.

"Well, you do deserve it for bringing two customers who won't go away," he smirked.

"They're still there?" she sighed, only half questioningly. She should have known they won't go away.

"Oh yeah. And the blonde guy, what's his name?"

"Tristan."

Jess chuckled. "Tristan made me carry a note to his Isolde," he took out the creased piece of paper out of his back pocket and handed it to Rory, who unfolded it and momentarily blushed and grinded her teeth. The note landed on the bed next to her and Jess couldn't help but read, _"Your boyfriend is growing on me, Mary, you should come down so we could spend some time together. Yes, I guess I'm proposing a three-way. Yours forever, Tris"_. Jess shook his head with a mixture of amusement, anger and pity and decided to turn away Rory's attention to something else. As much as he loved seeing her blush, he preferred to be the one causing it.

"So, Sex Pistols, huh?" he tried to step on a safe territory but she blushed again and he had to stop himself from laughing out loud. She was unbelievable.

"Yep. I was angry."

"Good choice," he mumbled with a mouthful of fries. "Did you know that Sid Vicious played drums with Siouxsie and the Banshees for a while?"

"I did."

"You did?" his eyes widened in genuine surprise which Rory registered gladly.

"Lane Kim is my best friend, remember?" she grinned. "I prefer The Creatures though. _Anima Animus _– rescuing the honour of the 90's."

"Nothing can rescue the honour of the 90's." Jess smirked. "I heard that's one of PJ Harvey's favourite albums though."

"Oh, I love PJ! I almost went to her concert once."

"Oh yeah? Why didn't you?"

"Because it was Tristan who asked me to go. And he thought PJ Harvey is a band."

"Jeez, I'm never serving him coffee again."

She smiled at him gratefully and they continued talking until Luke came into the apartment announcing that he closed up the diner and he needs Jess' help cleaning up.

"Rory, your friends were particularly difficult to get rid of, Dean kept staring at the curtain and the other guy made friends with Kirk and said he wouldn't leave until they come up with an ultimate business idea."

"But they're gone now, right?" she inquired and looked out of the window to make sure that she could go home safely. "Jess, thanks for everything, I'm borrowing the book," she grabbed _Jane Eyre_ and left before he could protest. She simply had to finish looking through his notes. She left but he just stood there, looking after her in awe, unaware of the fact that Luke was watching him with amusement.

"Jess."

"What?" he snapped.

"Don't 'what' me, I can see that you like her. And she likes you too."

"And since when you're such an expert, Uncle Luke?" Jess asked sarcastically.

"Those two were sitting downstairs arguing over her and scaring off my customers and she was here with you all this time."

"Whatever," he dismissed the claim, secretly wishing that Luke was right.

"She'll come around, Jess. She's a Gilmore, she has to eat."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:: This was meant to be a oneshot, but so many people added this story to their alerts (thank you!) that I decided to write some more. Please keep in mind that reviews have the power to make my day. **

**Disclaimer: Don't own. **

* * *

"Dean, this is so wrong," she said when they sat on a bench in the town square. "You're my boyfriend, it's supposed to be me and you against any kinds of troubles and right now it seems like it's me against you against Tristan."

"Well then what do you expect me to do, Rory?" he asked angrily.

"I don't know," she lowered her eyes.

"I can't go on like this."

"Dean, please, don't," she felt tears forming in her eyes.

"I never said it's over and I'm not saying it now, it's just we've been in this stupid fight for ages Rory, it doesn't feel like I'm your boyfriend anymore."

She was lost for words. She knew he was right but it felt like she was losing the ground underneath her feet. She grew so accustomed to having Dean around all the time, perhaps she started taking him for granted.

"So what do we do now?" she asked, wiping away her tears.

"I guess... you need to choose. You know where to find me."

"Okay," she sniffed.

"Just..."

"Yes?" she looked up.

"Just don't come crying to me if that jerk hurts you," he said, and with those words, he walked away.

* * *

"Talk," Jess greeted her when she entered the empty diner, her eyes still slightly red even though after the talk with Dean she went home and washed her face with cold water. She intended to get into her bed and allow herself time to wallow but her stomach had different plans, and there was absolutely nothing edible at home. Not even pop tarts.

"It's nothing," she said with a sad smile.

"Very convincing."

"I think Dean kind of broke up with me," she gave in.

"Kind of?"

"He said that he can't be considered my boyfriend anymore but he'll be around when I make up my mind as to my next step."

"And what's that gonna be?"

"Having blueberry pancakes."

"Looks like your mind is pretty made up, you want me to go and fetch Dean?"

"Jess!" she frowned.

"Sorry. You're okay?"

"Not really."

"Need a shoulder to cry on?"

"As in yours?" a little smile appeared on her face.

"I was going to suggest Leonardo Di Caprio's but if you insist," Jess looked her straight in the eyes until she felt the contact was too intense and turned around.

"Oh no!" she exclaimed as she saw Paris and Tristan coming into the diner.

"Gilmore, we were supposed to meet you at your house at 4 o'clock sharp to work on the history project! It's 4:20!"

Rory looked up to Tristan for help but he just shrugged.

"Sorry Paris, I'm just having a really bad day and I completely forgot."

"What happened?" Paris surprisingly showed some interest.

"I don't really want to talk about it."

"Come on, Mary, you've been crying," Tristan spoke up for the first time.

"It's Dean, isn't it? What happened?" Paris repeated.

"We broke up."

A spark appeared in Tristan's eye.

"I'm sorry," he said sarcastically.

"No, you're not!"

"You're right, I'm not. Does it mean that we..."

"I don't know, Tristan"

"Do you wanna find out?" he looked at her with his usual confidence and before she knew it, his lips were on hers. She wavered for a second, knowing that Jess and Paris were next to them, but then she responded to the kiss eagerly. She wanted to do this for a while.

Jess turned around and started to do something with the coffee machine, producing a lot of banging noise. He was furious. Here he was with Rory, making an eye contact which made the rest of the world disappear and three minutes later she was making out with the rich blonde idiot right in front of him. Not even mentioning the fact that Rory and Dean just broke up. But if Tristan was willing to be the rebound guy, then Jess wasn't going to stop him. The image of them kissing was still infuriating though. Goodness knows what emotions were going through Paris at that moment, but she watched the couple in front of her in disbelief for a few seconds, then she walked quickly around the counter and pulling Jess to her by the collar of his shirt, she kissed him.

Rory who just pulled away from Tristan to take a breath saw it, and she felt like she had just been slapped in the face.

"Paris!" she exclaimed, causing Tristan to open his eyes and see Paris standing surprisingly close to a visibly shocked and slightly amused Jess.

"What, Rory?" Paris asked impatiently.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Kissing Jess!"

"You can't do that!"

The two boys observed the exchange intently, the subject of the conversation trying really hard not to laugh.

"Why not? It's not like there's a 'no make-out' policy in here, is it? I can't see a sign on the wall. Besides, I was following your lead! And apparently Rory Gilmore is always right, so what was wrong with that? " Paris yelled and stormed out of the diner. Rory blushed and followed her, leaving Tristan and Jess alone in the diner.

"Wow!" Tristan exclaimed. "I love this town. What is it called again? Heavenly Stars?"

"Hell-hole."

"Come on man, surely it can't be that bad."

"I'll set you up with Ms Patty, we'll see what you say then."

"Sounds good but I'm kind of taken."

"So, let me get this straight. Paris likes you, right?" Jess couldn't hide the sarcasm in his voice.

"What can I say, I'm very likeable. Although what she just did sort of indicated that she likes you. I should probably go and see what we're doing with the history project."

"Right, you do want to get your schoolwork done," Jess teased.

"See you around, my friend. Say hi to Kirk for me,"

"Will do."

Tristan left and Jess smirked, recalling the insanity of the entire situation. Somehow it wasn't Paris he really wanted to talk about what happened.

* * *

But apparently Paris did.

"Hello."

"Hi, can I speak to Jess?" Paris' sharp voice hit Luke's ear.

"Who is this?"

"I asked you a question first."

"Fine, I suppose you can speak to Jess. Who are you though?"

"Paris Gellar, just give Jess the phone."

"Jess, there's some girl on the phone for you!" Luke had to shout because his nephew's music was on. Music was apparently a subjective term.

"Hello," Jess took over the phone.

"Jess."

"Paris."

"I just wanted to make sure we're clear that the kiss earlier today was meaningless."

"We're clear."

"Because I like Tristan."

"I figured."

"And you like Rory."

"That's none of your business."

"Whatever. It just seemed like the best thing to do at the moment."

"Okay."

"So you're okay with me using you? It was for the benefit of both of us but still."

"I'll live, just don't attack me with your lips ever again."

"Deal. It was good."

"Talking to me?" He knew very well what she meant he couldn't pass and opportunity to make Paris Gellar squirm.

"The kiss, idiot!" Paris answered coldly.

"Huh. Even though I didn't respond?" he asked with a mix of curiosity and amusement.

"Yes,"

"Well, I'm glad. Bye Paris."

"Goodbye Jess."

* * *

Later that evening, Rory dialled the number of Luke's apartment. She didn't give any thought to the fact that she knew it off by heart.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Luke, it's Rory."

"Oh, hi Rory!"

"Luke, can I talk to Jess please?"

"No."

"Oh," Rory said surprised at Luke's sharp answer.

"He's out."

"Out where?"

"You're not seriously asking me this question, are you?" Luke answered irritably, as if only a Gilmore-type-crazy person could think that he would possibly know where Jess is was.

"You're right. Bye Luke."

She put down the phone and heard tapping on her window.

* * *

Jess left the apartment with Bukowski's _Post Office_ in his back pocket and a paper bag with a brownie. He needed to come up with a strategy and talk to Rory. It was late which meant he couldn't knock on the door so he walked in the direction of her window. And apparently he wasn't the only one with the idea because he saw Dean's tall figure standing there. Instinctively, Jess clung to the wall. It wouldn't be pretty if Dean saw him there and he wanted to save Rory the trouble.

"You kissed him, Rory!" he heard Dean's voice.

"You broke up with me, Dean!"

"Only an hour earlier!"

"Still!" she sounded tearful.

"I can't believe this."

"No one's asking you to. Just go, leave me alone Dean." She shut her window in front of his face and he walked away slowly, kicking the ground.

Jess waited a couple of minutes before he walked over to her window and looked inside. She was lying on her bed, facing the other way. He tapped on the window but she didn't move. He tried again but still there was no response. Great, she was mistaking him for Dean and didn't want to talk.

"Rory," he decided to speak up.

Now she turned around, got up and opened the window.

"Jess, hey."

"Hi. Brownie, always a good way to end an eventful day," he handed her the bag with Luke's logo.

"You have no idea. Thank you."

He jumped up and sat on the windowsill.

"So, you and Tristan?"

"Not really. That was a spur of the moment thing, it's too soon for me to decide anything."

"I see."

"I still can't believe you and Paris kissed," Rory grinned.

"Did she at least explain what the hell she was thinking?"

"Nope. But if that's any consolation, she said it was really good," Rory said, laughing.

"Huh." Recommended by Paris Gellar. What else did he need?


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: It took ages. And I still don't know where I'm going with this story or how I'm going to get there. It's a surprise to me too. I hope you will appreciate the lack of Dean in this chapter and some JJ hints. I know for sure I will appreciate your reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls. Oh well.**

* * *

Tristan entered the diner to see Jess behind the counter, reading a book.

"Hey man, two coffees please."

Jess lazily lifted his eyes from his paperback. "You're going to Rory?"

"Yeah."

"You might want to know that Paris is there."

"And you know that, because?"

"See that curtain over there?" Jess pointed. "There's a crystal ball behind it," he said in a whisper.

Tristan decided to play along and whispered as well. "Please tell me they're wearing bikinis and painting their nails or something."

"Very Rory and Paris," Jess nodded, pulling a face and trying to remove the image from his head.

"Oh well, can't blame a guy for dreaming, can you?"

"Guess not," Jess replied vaguely. He couldn't blame him, he could, however, hate him for it.

"You wanna come with me? Better chance of keeping Paris in check."

"You have a movie on you?"

"Nope, why?" The guy was clearly still a Gilmore-ignorant.

"You don't want to come near them studying without a proper peace offering."

"Good point. So, you're coming?"

"If you insist," he smirked. This Tristan guy was pretty cool. He basically asked him to go and see Rory. "There's a DVD rental place four doors down, choose something and I'll meet you there. I'll just grab some food," he said nonchalantly. Tristan left the diner and Jess started filling a big paper bag with food. "Luke, I'm going out!"

* * *

They made peace. They were forced to, really, because they were assigned to do a history project together and some research for the Franklin. It was Saturday night Rory and Paris sat in the living room of the Gilmore house, after four hours of intensive work. They ordered Thai from Al's just to discover that it wasn't enough and proceed to cook frozen pizza with ham and sweet corn. The latter was carefully picked off by Rory. It was meant to be just a short break from work but oddly enough they started talking. Something about Madeline and Louise and the effect of their constant dates on their grades and eventually the subject shifted to boys.

"It must be nice to have three boys fawning over you," Paris sighed.

"Are you joking? They're driving me crazy. First they argue like five year olds, then Dean breaks up with me, Tristan kisses me and gives me no time whatsoever to even consider what I actually want, it's just all too intense for my liking," Rory started to ramble. "Wait, why did you say three?"

Paris raised her eyebrow. "Who are you kidding, Gilmore?"

"I'm not kidding anyone, why did you say three?"

"You're kidding yourself, pretending not to notice that a certain cute diner boy who is a very good kisser by the way, likes you."

"Paris, you're only saying this so that you can brag about the fact that you kissed Jess," Rory said, finding herself blushing.

"No, I'm not. I'm saying this to remind you how possessive you got when I kissed him."

The doorbell rang but got no reaction from Rory.

"It wasn't possessive, it was protective because you're both my friends and I would hate if you two ended up hurting each other."

Another ring of the doorbell.

"Yeah, right. Go get the door, Gilmore."

Rory got up and went to the door with Paris closely following her. She opened it to see two heads, one blonde and the other one dark brown while their owners were facing and discussing Paris' car.

"What are you doing here?"

"Hello Mary, we come bearing food."

"And your elixir of life," Jess lifted a tray with four cups.

"But what... why?" she asked with confusion.

"I knew you and Paris were studying and I was having an awful lot of trouble with that math assignment," Tristan lied smoothly.

"And you couldn't have gone to one of your friends?"

"Sorry, I choose my friends based on the disability to do math. Are you gonna let us in anytime soon? This bag is kinda heavy."

"Oh. Right. Come on in." She let them through and shifted her eyes from Tristan to Jess, giving him a small uncertain smile.

"Where do you want the food?"

"Um, I don't know, we just ate."

"Two meals in an hour. Plus candy."

"Well then I guess you'll have to watch us eat. Or you can put a movie on," Tristan said.

"A movie?" Rory still couldn't hide her uneasiness.

"Yeah, there," Tristan handed her a box.

"You got _Almost Famous_?" Jess raised his eyebrow.

"Yeah, it's a good movie, you should watch it."

"Oh, he has watched it," Rory commented, remembering their conversation about Kate Hudson and her believability when committing an on-screen suicide. "Eleven times, I believe?" Jess didn't answer but smirked at the fact that she knew more about him than she would want to admit. Paris looked at the two of them carefully.

"One more won't hurt then. Is your mom in?"

"No, she's got something going on at the inn until late tonight. Have a seat I guess, I'll bring some plates."

They watched the movie and then proceeded to watch a game show on TV, playing along and getting irritated at the clueless contestants.

When Rory went to the kitchen to get more marshmallows, Tristan followed her, causing an exchange of looks between Paris and Jess.

* * *

"Hi Mary,"

"Wow, you're fast. You've been here for three hours and now you're saying 'hi'?" Her ramble lost its strength at the end as Tristan took a step towards her, looking deep into her eyes.

"Better late than never, right?" he asked, slowly getting closer still. Rory closed her eyes in anticipation but then doubt came over her and she opened them to find Tristan about three inches away from her face, watching her.

"Don't," she said quietly, breaking the eye contact.

Tristan to snap out of his slow-motion mode. "Dammit, Rory," he said hitting the counter with an open palm. He surprised her by calling her by her actual name. Yet, although a new sensation, it was neutral. "Okay then, if you don't want to do anything, then we should at least talk about it." She saw how frustrated he was getting with her but she didn't know what to do about it herself. "What is it, huh? It's not like you have a boyfriend anymore."

"Tristan, you don't understand. I know I don't, but I was with Dean for almost a year. It's just... I don't think I'm quite ready for anything new yet."

"How much time do you think you need? A week, a month? I'm sorry but I thought you two kind of broke up because of me."

"What, do you expect me to boost your ego and say yes?" she asked, getting aggravated. "Ask Dean, he was the one who broke up with me!"

"Exactly, because he finally understood..." he stopped mid-sentence as his cell phone started ringing. "Oh for..." he exhaled deeply and picked up the phone. " Hi dad." When he finished talking, he turned to Rory again. "That was my dad, I'm supposed to be home in exactly six minutes." He grabbed his jacket and stepped towards the door. "Bye."

"Tristan!" Paris shouted as he was stepping out the door. "I think I may have a sugar high, I can't drive to Hartford on my own."

Tristan didn't say a word but just held the door for her as she gathered her books at the speed of light.

"Bye Jess. See you on Monday, Rory, remember about the extra Franklin meeting before school."

She was out, and so was Tristan. Rory stared at the door.

"And then there were two," she heard Jess' voice from behind her.

She faced him. "Wow. That was..."

"Weird," he offered.

"Definitely. So..." she hesitated, "what do you want to do now?"

"I guess I'll help you clean up this mess and I'll get going too." He stood there looking at her almost shyly, with his hands buried deep in his pockets.

"Oh, okay." She gathered some of the take-out boxes while he took the plates and they headed to the kitchen. "Just put them in the dishwasher," she motioned and went back to the living room to get the rest of stuff from the table. They ate loads. It turned out that Rory's stomach was indeed bottomless and two teenage boys were also able to eat a fair share of fries and burgers. When she returned to the kitchen, she found Jess kneeling on the floor looking into the dishwasher. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing. It's not working," he pointed at the appliance.

"Oh."

"Do you have a screwdriver? It should be easy to fix."

"You're not seriously offering to fix our dishwasher, are you? That would so ruin your image," Rory said with amusement.

"Shut up," he answered, smirking.

"Luke's tool box should be in the closet."

"Luke keeps his tool box here?"

"An extra one, yes. See, he got fed up of bringing over his one because everything burns in my mother's hands and it's needed here constantly so he got another one for our house."

He smirked at the comment on everything burning in Lorelai's hands. Wonder why.

* * *

"You've seriously read _Gone_ _With The Wind_?" It was an hour and a half later and she was sitting on the kitchen floor among parts of the dismantled dishwasher and watched Jess whose upper body was in the machine.

"Yes, I have. I was twelve and the library was closed after catching on fire and I found it on a bus stop. It has its moments."

"It has its moments?" Rory asked not believing what she was hearing. "You realise you're talking about one of the greatest love stories ever?"

Jess scoffed and emerged from the inside of the dishwasher. "Scarlett is the most annoying main character ever and she wears curtain dresses. And she only loved Ashley because she couldn't have him. There was no real substance to him."

"How can you say that?"

"Tell me you would choose Ashley over Rhett if you were in her shoes."

Rory blushed. "No, I wouldn't."

"Thank you." He dived back into the dishwasher.

"But still..." Rory started.

"Whoa, what's going on here?" Lorelai looked at the mess on the floor as she walked in.

"Oh, hi mom," Rory smiled.

"Rory, who is that in our dishwasher?" she gave her daughter a suspicious look.

"Someone who probably doesn't want his identity revealed because it would lose him his street credit," Rory answered teasingly.

Jess groaned and mumbled, "Hi Lorelai."

"Ah. I see Luke is rubbing off on ya. Well, I'll leave you to it, kids, I'm basically sleepwalking and sleeptalking right now," she let her head fall to demonstrate her point.

"Night mom, be careful on the stairs."

"Night child of mine and you, who likes sitting in kitchen appliances," she sighed and went to her room.

Jess chuckled. "Hand me that screwdriver, would you?"

"Sure," she looked into the box and picked one of the seven.

"Not this one, I need a Philips. I mean the cross shaped one. Thanks."

"Do you want anything to drink?" She got up and opened the fridge. "Water? Soda?" She tried to decide what she wanted herself and was about to reach for a bottle of water when she sensed Jess' presence behind her. So close that his breath tickled her ear. His arm went above hers, brushing against her shoulder and his upper body touched her back as he grabbed a bottle of beer from the highest shelf. She turned around and found his face dangerously close. Jess blinked slowly and took a step back.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"Jess!" She wasn't sure whether she was referring to the fact that he took a beer or the body contact.

"What? In most countries in the world the drinking age is eighteen and I'll be eighteen in three weeks." He smirked, proud of himself for not letting awkwardness creep in. They both sat on the floor again, Indian style and she extended her arm in the direction of the bottle.

"Gimme."

"Rory, you're not confiscating my beer."

"I'm not confiscating it, I want to have some," she said confidently.

"You're not drinking."

She looked at him, too surprised at what he said to tell him that he's not telling her what to do. "Why?" she asked instead.

"Because. You're... you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she frowned.

"That your mother and Taylor would kill each other fighting about which one of them should personally drive me out of town for corrupting you."

"You can be such a drama queen," she chuckled. "You know, in most countries in the world the drinking are is eighteen and I'll be eighteen in four months," she mocked him. It wasn't that she really wanted that beer. As stupid as it was, she wanted it to show him that she wasn't as proper and uptight as she was usually seen. That she could do dangerous things as well. But he thought that it was ridiculous and didn't suit her. So he got protective.

"Better tell me about your first time with Tolkien," he leaned against the wall opposite her, wanting to listen to her, look at her, as she spoke of things that excited her. The thought that he could spend a lifetime doing just that crossed his mind and left him panicked. But her voice was there to soothe him.

* * *

She couldn't sleep. She climbed up the stairs to Lorelai's room and lied down next to her sleeping mother.

"Mommy."

"Rory?" Lorelai mumbled into her pillow.

"The dishwasher is working."

Lorelai opened her eyes slowly and looked at Rory carefully, yet absentmindedly. "I just had the weirdest dream. You woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me that the dishwasher is working. Do we even have a dishwasher?"

"Yes, mom, we got it like five years ago after your freak-out about your hands going dry."

"Huh. And why wouldn't it be working?"

"It broke, and Jess fixed it today. Remember? You were there."

"Oh. Yes. Jess. Dishwasher. True. Cute butt on our kitchen floor. Still not a reason to wake me up, hon."

"Mom! Please be serious. I'm confused," she said quietly.

"Rory, you have a right to be. You have three boys wrapped around your little finger, even though you only have two little fingers. I must say I'm quite proud of you though," Lorelai grinned.

"Do you think it would be really wrong to make a pro/con list?"

"I'm pretty sure that even if you haven't got it on paper, you do have a complete pro/con list in your head already, kid. But don't write it down. Live some space to spontaneity or whatever. " Rory nodded and silence overcame them.

"He's just being so sweet. He wouldn't let me have beer, you know?"

"Who, Jess?" Rory nodded again. "Now I'm torn between wanting to kill him and sending him a love letter saying thank you for not letting you. Rory, promise me that you'll let me witness your first drunk time. I was there when you took your first step and read your first book, I need to be there when you drink for the first time. Preferably with a camera. You're being an unbelievable kid for not trying it yet by the way."

"And you love me for it," Rory grinned and kissed her mother's cheek. "I promise. We might even do that on a Friday Night Dinner, what do you say?"

"Perfect."

" I'll leave you to your beauty sleep. Night mom."

"Goodnight honey."

* * *

"Where the hell were you?" Luke's sleepy voice greeted him as he entered the apartment. It was 2am, and Jess was surprised that Luke wasn't asleep yet.

"Out."

"Jess."

"Luke."

"You cannot sneak in here in the middle of the night and not tell me. You're still a minor, Jess."

"Okay, okay, you're sure you want to know though?" Pushing Luke's buttons in the middle of the night, that great day was certainly coming to a great ending.

Luke groaned. "Fine. Don't tell me."

"As you wish. Goodnight Luke." Jess walked over to the bathroom but then stopped and turned to his uncle again. "Oh, by the way, Lorelai says hello." She didn't but that wasn't the point. Luke blushed in the darkness, not giving any more thought to his nephew's whereabouts.


End file.
